River View Local School District urges lawmakers to pass fair school funding proposal
River View Local School District announced it is joining hundreds of school districts statewide to support the Fair School Funding Plan, as introduced in the Ohio House as Sub. H.B. 305 and the Ohio Senate as S.B. 376, and is urging lawmakers to seize this moment to make history for Ohio’s K-12 public schools.
The plan is an improved and comprehensive bipartisan remake of Ohio’s current funding formula. It is also the product of three years of concentrated volunteer efforts by a group of active school superintendents and treasurers under the leadership of state representatives Bob Cupp (R-Lima), John Patterson (D-Jefferson) and Gary Scherer (R-Circleville). Senators Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering) and Vernon Sykes (D- Akron) introduced Senate Bill 376 as a companion bill to the House version. River View is grateful for their leadership.
River View Superintendent Dalton Summers said the plan focuses on what students need to ensure a high- quality education. He added it also gives weight to supporting classroom instruction, as well as making sure Ohio public school students can learn in a safe and secure environment. This is a plan that was developed more than three years by practitioners who truly understand what it costs to educate. While it is not perfect, it is an actual method that is rational, explainable and constitutional.
According to River View Treasurer/CFO Lee Williamson, the current funding system is broken and unconstitutional; its provisions have no objectively determined relationship to cost or need.
Summers and Williamson said they believe the plan is fair for students and taxpayers, eliminates arbitrary caps on funding increases, reduces artificial guarantees and respects local control.
In addition to River View and hundreds of other districts across Ohio, four of Ohio’s most influential and prestigious educational organizations also declared their support for the Fair School Funding Plan: Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Ohio School Boards Association, Ohio Federation of Teachers and Ohio Education Association.
Category: Education
